System and method for administering charitable funds through affiliations of professionals

Abstract

An affiliation of professionals administers charitable fund accounts. The membership of the affiliation contains tax and estate planning attorneys, and/or accountants, and/or CPAs, and/or other non-financial oriented professionals. The fund is created through the affiliation by one of the professionals working with a donor to select and fund the charitable fund. The charitable fund is administered by the management team of the affiliation. The administration involves managing an asset held under the charitable fund to produce a return on the asset. The return on the asset is distributed to a charity or income beneficiary depending if it's a charitable foundation or charitable trust. The donor exercises direction over the distribution of the return on the asset to charities. Any revenue generated through administration of the charitable fund by the management of the affiliation is placed in revenue pools. The revenue is apportioned to members of the affiliation according to the contribution of the respective members to the generation of the revenue.

1 . A method of administering charitable funds accounts, comprising: 
 organizing a plurality of professionals into an affiliation;    creating a charitable fund through the affiliation by one of the plurality of professionals working with a donor to select and fund the charitable fund;    administering the charitable funds;    generating revenue to the affiliation through administration of the charitable fund; and    apportioning at least a portion of the revenue of the affiliation to members of the affiliation.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the affiliation comprises a cooperative.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein administering the charitable fund comprises administering the charitable fund through a management team that are members of the affiliation;  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of professionals comprises attorneys.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of professionals comprises accountants and CPAs.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of professionals comprises non-financial oriented professionals.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the affiliation offering a plurality of charitable fund plans from which to select.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of administering the charitable fund further comprises the steps of: 
 managing an asset held under the charitable fund to produce a return on the asset; and    distributing the return on the asset to a charity or income beneficiary.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising the donor exercising direction over the distribution of the return on the asset to the charity.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the asset held under the charitable fund is substantially preserved.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the revenue to the affiliation is allocated to a plurality of revenue pools related to sources of the revenue generation.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the apportioning of the revenue to the members is related to the contribution of the respective members to the generation of the revenue.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of administering the charitable trust comprises administering the charitable trust using computer program configured to treat each individual charitable trust as an individual account and as a member of a group of related accounts and to calculate a return on profits of the affiliation to individual members of the affiliation.  
     
     
         14 . A method of administering a charitable fund, comprising: 
 creating a charitable fund through an affiliation of professionals, wherein one of the professionals works with a donor to select and fund the charitable fund;    administering the charitable funds through the affiliation of professionals;    generating revenue through administration of the charitable fund by the management of the affiliation; and    apportioning the revenue to members of the affiliation.    
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the affiliation of professionals comprises attorneys.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising the affiliation of professionals comprises accountants and CPAs.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the affiliation of professionals comprises non-financial oriented professionals.  
     
     
         18 . An arrangement for the administration of a charitable fund, comprising: 
 a first foundation existing under a first jurisdiction;    means for administering charitable funds within the first foundation;    means for generating revenue for the affiliation through administration of the charitable funds charitable funds by the management of the affiliation; and    means for apportioning the revenue to members of the affiliation of professionals.    
     
     
         19 . The arrangement of claim  32 , further comprises: 
 a second foundation existing under a second jurisdiction; and    means for administering the charitable funds within the second foundation.    
     
     
         20 . The arrangement of claim  32 , wherein the first foundation offers a plurality of charitable fund plans from which to select.  
     
     
         21 . The arrangement of claim  32 , wherein the means for administering the charitable fund comprises: 
 means for managing an asset held under the charitable funds to produce a return on the asset; and    means for distributing the return on the asset to a charity or income beneficiary.    
     
     
         22 . The arrangement of claim  33 , wherein the means for administering the charitable fund comprises a computer program configured to treat each individual charitable trust as an individual account and as a member of a group of related accounts and to calculate a return on profits of the affiliation to individual members of the affiliation.